From the Hood to Whisky A Go Go; teenage rapper to debut at celebrated music venue

LOS ANGELES - 02/12/2019 — After a year of putting rhymes on Soundcloud and performing at public schools and block parties, Lil Litty, a 15-year-old rapper from South Central Los Angeles, will be making his first professional gig. It’s at Whisky A Go Go, one of the most celebrated music stages in Los Angeles.

On Feb. 20, Lil Litty, born Sean Raven, will be opening for RBL Posse, a San Francisco gangsta rap group. RBL Posse has charted on Billboard magazine’s Hot Rap Singles and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts.

This gig wasn’t the most conventional fit. Litty doesn’t rap much about street life. He focuses on rhymes about self-improvement, helping people and having fun.

But Doc Gunnn, the Whisky’s talent booker, wanted to take a chance on this new rapper. Doc heard Litty on live music marketplace Gigmor.”He’s a promising young artist,”Gunnn said. “We wanted to give him a platform.”

He cold called and left a voicemail for Litty and his mother Lillian Raven. Said Litty, “I was speechless, the Whiskey a Go Go was hitting me up? My second thought was I got to practice.”

Last year, Litty’s song “Young Legend,” a memorial to the slain rapper XXXtention, was posted on Soundcloud. It received 2.7 million listens. Last month, he posted the song “Lit Like A Bic” on Soundcloud. It already received 1.6 million listens.

Music is Litty’s second project. In November 2016, he started Lemonade Millionaires. He sold lemonade and branded T-shirts and hoodies at the South Central lemonade stand.